Greg you mentioned a few things that might be right. Bacteria is definitely a major player, considering Cyano is one. Good competition could be the long term solution. been trying mostly to do this chemical free as to not upset the bacteria levels any more than they are already out of wack.
Not too sure about maintenance required on a well balanced tank.
I have two main tanks. A 35 gallon reef tank with a deep sand bed that has been set up for 16+ years. All I run is a small tunze skimmer on it with good water flow. I currently do not have filter socks running on it. I have a wide range of corals in it some like my bonsai has been growing since the tank initially set up. I have had problems many years ago with this tank but now I do absolutely nothing to the tank. Change the water once every 6 months if I am lucky, add nothing other than 2 part to balance the alkalinity/calcium usage manually. Check the alkalinity/calcium levels once every month and they never change. This tank is ultra low maintenance. I currently do not even know what the nitrates or phosphates are, nor do I care.
The other tank is a 75 gallon reefer. It has been set up for about 4 years now. This is the one that I am having problems with and have trouble balancing the nutrients and alkalinity. I check the alkalinity almost daily change the water once every 1 to 2 weeks, check the PO3 twice a week and the nitrates once every week or so. The alkalinity usage fluctuates quite regularly and if I do not catch it right away the corals can go in a rapid decline. I add calcium and alkalinity via a doser. I try to keep both nitrates and phosphates at detectable amounts but have had serious issues (algae/cyano/ corals STNing) when I have tried elevating these levels.
I have been on Reef2Reef forms talking with some of the experts about it on cyano specific forms and nobody seems to have a full understanding of cyano. GHA is more an inconvenience that I can deal with.
The cyano can be another beast all together and if I am not careful dinos can be the end result, this (dinos) is why it is so important that I do not let me nutrients bottom out.
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